


Fish Out of Water

by Quill18, Salty_Dog



Series: Tikkun Olam Scraps [6]
Category: Marvel (House of M), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - House of M, Anxiety Disorder, Canon Jewish Character, Cybernetics, Cyborgs, Disabled Character, Gen, Genosha, Jewish Erik Lehnsherr, Nonbinary Character, Original Character(s), POV Jewish Character, Parent Erik Lehnsherr, Protective Erik Lehnsherr, Self-Harm, amputee character, dadneto, merfolk character, recovery from non-consensual human experimentation, transhumanist character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2020-11-23 07:28:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quill18/pseuds/Quill18, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Dog/pseuds/Salty_Dog
Summary: 8 years after X-9 and his lab-siblings were rescued from Transigen, Magneto deals with another one of his children that was manufactured there. Follow-up to X-9.





	1. Prologue - Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eel, a lab survivor and transhumanist mutant, arrives in Genosha. While waiting for Amp to arrive for repairs, ze does not react well to the revelation of genetic relations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the prologue and is written by Salty_Dog back in early 2018. Edited by me in Jan 2020. It takes place at least a few months before Fish Out of Water. 
> 
> Warnings: Self-harm, trauma from non-consensual experimentation, leg amputation mention, limb stumps
> 
> Tikkun Olam: Genosha Discord Server: https://discord.gg/eA64MqR

The room’s windows were open so a soft breeze could push against the curtains, nearly hitting the young mutant as it fluttered. They weren't made to block the light, and were of a cheerful yellow colour which were charming, but merely grating now as Microwave, or “Eel” as the paperwork said, threw the letter against the wall.

(Microwave was zir lab name, just something to be called when your signifier is nothing but a string of letters and numbers: X-18-18, in zir case. Ze favored producing microwaves to get the scientists off zir back, and the other lab children used zir to heat up the cold kibble that they were served daily.

But Eel was no longer the bald skinny test subject and with new bodyparts and freedom, ze picked a new name: Eel. Named after the electric eels that ze loved.)

The room suddenly felt too small and Eel fought the urge to dive out of the window and abandon Genosha, with it's stupid rules, quarantines and checking of genetic code.

The ocean was still vaguely audible when the traffic and chatter from nearby streets hushed themselves. Escape was possible, but it would irritate the authorities. Eel had already pushed the system farther than any human city would allow, coming into port with not all of zir shots and having to get them. In a human city quarantines could take weeks, months but in Genosha health could be assured in just half a day.

It was fine, besides, Amp had yet to come to adjust the metal prosthetic that ze flopped down on the table. The tail needed adjustment, salt had corroded some fine piece which Eel couldn't see, and new scratches appeared on zir thighs because of it. Wait. Just wait half a day.

Ze kicked zir thighs in a scissor motion. Zir above-the-knee leg stumps seemed too bare without a proper tail stretching down below them.

It was fine. Ze breathed in, then out, resisting the urge to forgo breathing for a few minutes.

It was just a stay in a room, the ocean was right there, sea birds squawking, water crashing, tourists being annoying.

No needles, no restraints, no having to pull magnets through a maze to get some fucking food. As if to prove it to zirself, a protein shake in a metal thermos snapped into a waiting hand and was guzzled furiously.

See? Everything was fine.

It was just quarantine. It was just a letter which…

Eel rolled over and used a phone to connect to the Wi-Fi, checking how often that particular test was completely fucking wrong. Ze squinted before irritably using the thermos to coax the thrown letter across the floor back to the bed.

_“Dear Eel,”_ the letter read,_ “Your genetic tests show tests show you aren't at risk for…”_ The page was skipped.

“_The results of this test show you share a genetic match with eight or more residents of Genosha.”_ That was blatantly untrue and the letter was nearly thrown across the room again.

_“These results share approximately twenty-five percent or higher of your genetic code, as predicted by unique sequences in your DNA that have been matched together.”_ What then followed was a list with vague indications of what genetics were shared.

There was one suspected to be a fifty percent match, a parent, sibling, or offspring. The rest were suspected to be various other relatives: grandparents, half-siblings, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews. It was bullshit. Eel scanned for a second opinion.

_“These results can be skewed by excessive genetic modification with the X gene-”_ That was it.

Must be it. Whatever sucker the lab stole DNA from must have gotten it taken by other labs too, by spliced maniacs who wanted powers, and enough of those people must be in Genosha.

Simple. Easy.

Ze had no family, just shared genetics. Just shared genetics, too much shared genetics.

Ze smacked the letter into the bed and the phone in Eel's hand buzzed as it displayed a warning that it was overheating. Ze threw it to the side table and laid down.

Fuck.

Fuck no.

Ze couldn't have family.

Ze didn't have family. Transgen labs saw to it, they made zir from the ground up, just a bundle of cells, no parents. Zir lab siblings were the only people close to family ze had.

The test was wrong. It was fake. It was stupid!

Eel banged zir fist against the window, longing to leave long scratches on zirself, to force everything down so ze could just breathe- could think again. Who knows what the staff could do if if they saw blood.

Zir sharp, claw like fingernails had pierced the skin while making the fist.

It was too late.

Too late.

Damn it. 

Ze swore at the sight of blood beading up from zir cuts. The metal in the room rattled as ze grabbed zir skull, claws digging into the scalp. The cybernetic fishtail jerked and shifted towards Eel. The slight cuts it made would be fine- what ze wanted- what ze needed.

Ze scratched and tore at zir thighs. Amp would fix zir. He always did. Who gave a shit, anyway. Zir was defective, a shitty product slated for euthanization by Transigen. 

Eel knew that Amp, zir former guardian, mainly fixed zir out of religious obligation and delight in having a willing subject, desperate for cybernetic upgrades. No parent was willing to let their children go full transhominid but Eel, parentless and manufactured in a lab, gave zero fucks.

Payment and actual care for body mods ze wanted? Yes. 

An employment offer by Genesis Labs to test out prototype cybernetics and be a consultant for mutant pediatric prosthesis? Fuck Yes.

A far cry from the objectification of zir early childhood.

Eel pulled out the soft padding from the tail and jerked and twisted till zir shitty meat stumps scraped inside the tail. Pain stung as it tore up zir thighs. Eel hissed as zir spinal rig hooked into the tail's neuroports. Once connected, it hummed to life, the electric signal and sight calming. Dryfits sucked, it hurt and the cuts stung, but

it's fine, hardly a problem. Pain means you're alive. Who the fuck needs comfort? 

Eel scratched the floor, trying not to spiral out into the abyssal seas of self destruction.

Not in the lab. Listen, idiot, it's the ocean outside. Copy it. In, out. In, out. Follow the tide.

Tail's damaged but body's whole again at least. Can levitate, can swim. No longer a sitting duck.

A steady calm thrummed over zir, air breathing in and out of zir lungs.

Ze pulled out the letter. The words, "_Would you like us to follow up on this and add your genetics to our system? Your full genetic make-up won't be taken, only slight mitochondrial DNA and DNA used to prove a genetic relationship or genetic clone; as per the Mutant Protection Acts.”_

Ze ticked “No” and rolled over.

Eel had no family.


	2. Fever Dream?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eel, once known as X-18, labsibling to X-9 (North) and X-22 (Daken) wakes up to the awkward situation of being sung to and cuddled by Magneto. 
> 
> Edit: This was posted before the Prologue was, back in september.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daken is 18 in this timeline/and a lot more saner but still a jackass. He has a lot of labsiblings. (Not related to him but when you all grow up together in hell, you might as well be.) 
> 
> ADHD means I write and post things out of order. This fic mentions events I haven't written about yet. 
> 
> Magneto is singing this song, Oifen Pripitchik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpzCRzZA-3A
> 
> I imagine his voice to be closer to this however: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q5dgKkiTjg
> 
> I picked it since it was well known to the pre-Holocaust jewish communities of Europe and there's a melancholic tone to it. 
> 
> English lyrics here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyfn_Pripetshik
> 
> This is Durme Durme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VclC-bgt80
> 
> When Mags is singing in Polish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkrioRVR_rQ (The song from X-men Apocalypse)

Magnetic fields buffered zir, a gentle pulse, soft and controlled. If Eel had a mother, ze felt this was how it would feel like. Warm. So warm.

Quiet baritone words sung in Polish and hummed, with the magnetic fields pulsing and ripping in rhythm, waves tingled down zir spinal rig. Tingles rushed through the sixteen year old’s nerves.

Tucked into a nest of blankets and pillows, ze melted into the crook of a couch. Zir head rested on someone's warm lap, fingers stroked through zir dyed hair. Hands scritched at zir hairline

Eel slowly roused from the comforting black, fully burritoed in the blankets. Whatever had put zir to sleep, there had been no nightmares. Just restful unconsciousness. Maybe ze had passed out after days of no sleep.

Couldn't been Daken stroking zir hair. That wasn't his deal and usually the fucker reeked one way or another with his musky pheromones. Ze decided to stay nestled in the comforting pulse, rhythmic to their heartbeat, buried under the crook of a loving arm, eyes closed.

Daken must've dropped zir off at at Amp's, after ze was doused with relaxation pheromones.

Eel frowned at the thought of Daken shoving zir face into his armpit to get zir to relax.

Zir jackass brother enjoyed that too much.

At least it was for a good cause this time,to get Eel to sleep at zir Kuya's.

Yeah, that must've been it. No one else in zir "family" network had magnetic powers. Fucking Toothpaste, the memory of him a curse, didn't count. Any comfort that X-9 provided, had always ended up in pain and torment from their manufacturers, Transigen. 

Eel curled into a ball, thigh nubs being raised to zir chest, arms being tucked in between. Ze leaned into the touch. Kuya worked a lot, it was rare for them to offer this.

The hair stroking became knuckles brushed against zir cheek.. And quiet baritone murmurs. A heavy arm kept Eel tucked into zir Kuya's side, gently held. 

Ze kept zir eyes closed. Eel didn't feel any of zir prosthetics or adaptive collar, that was fine. It always felt uncomfortable and strestrictive to sleep with them on. Though ze rarely felt safe enough to sleep as mostly bare meat, nubs and all.

Amp must've worked out recently, the arm wrapped around zir felt...heavier and thicker. His voice sounded deeper. No matter, Eel hadn't seen Amp in a while and ze usually blocked out a lot of sensory info to avoid being overwhelmed. 

Eel shifted and schooched more into the sense of warmth and protection under the warm arm.

Nice.

Maybe if Daken didn't stink so much, and kept his mouth shut, ze would sleep more.

Eh, him being home enough to puppy pile was enough. But he was usually out nowadays, to seek pleasure in the redlight district. 

Eel noticed that the deep baritone voice spoke in Yiddish. 

Odd for Amp, he usually talked to zir in English, or mangled Spanish or broken Ladino.

Durme Durme was a favorite of Amp's. The ladino lullaby soothed Eel on the long nights ze was rescued out of Transigen at age 8. 

Too bad ze didn't have zir smart goggles plugged into zir neurojack, Shmeargle translate would help right now.

But...warmth.

Eel happily sighed as the presence wrapped zir tighter in blankets and kissed zir on the forehead. A pleasant electric buzz was left to linger on zir skin.

The Yiddish singing continued. Maybe Amp just wanted to practice his Yiddish? Eel gave a sleepy shrug. It didn’t matter, ze felt safe, a rare emotion for zir. 

The arm tightened around zir, the voice’s shushing noises pressed to zir ear.

The Yiddish continued the magnetic field rippled and pulsed out in time to the words.

The pulses comforted zir in the way that rain hit against a glass window or the steady calm rocking of zir boat at night, with the sea winds blowing outside and the tinkle of the wind chimes.

The lyrics seemed familiar, as though Eel had heard them before.

"Ah...the soundtrack to Schindler's list?? "

Eel sleepily muttered that.

The singing stopped.

The grip around zir tightened.

"...No, child." The voice said in English and in a deep voice.

"...it's a song from my childhood, I've sung this to all my other children."

….Eel's eyes snapped open, gaze flickered to the arm wrapped around zir.

Defintely not Kuya.

Wrong skin tone for one. Whoever comforted zir possessed an olive tan, a skin tone commonly found in those of middle eastern descent including Askhenazi Jews. Lighter then Amp’s own dark brown. 

Ze eyes looked out to the room, sunlight streamed through large windows and skylights. Family photos and bookshelves covered the steel walls that glinted in the sun. 

A Newton's Cradle and tubs of magnetic putty sat on the iron-framed coffee table in front of the couch that ze rested on. 

...oh shit.

The magnetic pulses stopped, the magnetic field wrapped around felt still and tense. 

….X-9 always had a tense field before being attacked or released a electro-magnetic pulse during bouts of Transigen’s experiments. Amp would tense up his field when he concentrated on a particularly tricky custom prosthetic or when angry at the news.

Eel stayed very still and closed zir eyes, ze didn't know if the tense magnetic field was an example of the former or the latter. Ze didn’t feel like being attacked while half awake and stripped of half of zir body parts. 

Whoever held zir, released zir breath and the hairstroking continued. The magnetic field released its tension and started to pulse again. Slowly. Ze felt slowly ripple through zir forehead, down zir neck, it trailed over zir spinal rig, down zir arms and the remaining flesh of zir legs.

…it felt similar to how Eel felt after an ASMR-video binge.

Against zir, older judgement, Eel closed zir eyes.

….this had to be Magneto. Ze didn't know of any other magnetic jewish mutants that knew Yiddish. With this level of control.

…..Fucking Daken dropped zir off at Magneto's house. Ze knew they had met....but this...fuck.

Ze stayed very still. The thought of moving, looking up and confirming it..no. Just no. And ze felt vulnerable. Too vulnerable. No hover-tail, bare leg stumps, an arm holding zir in place while being touched...

...it was always easier to just let the scientists do what they needed to do and then forget what happened...especially if ze was restrained.

Better to stay still. Ze inhaled in and out, trying to stay calm.

The hair-stroking continued and the Yiddish started up again. This time, torn out of sleep and stuck in the awkward position of being too scared to move, Eel was able to make out more of the words, in time with the magnetic pulses.

_ Oyfn pripetchik brent a fayerl, _

_ Un in shtub iz heys, _

_ Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlekh, _

_ Dem alef-beys. _

_ Refrain: _

_ Zet zhe kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere, _

_ Vos ir lernt do; _

_ Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol: _

_ Komets-alef: o! _

_ Lernt, kinder, mit groys kheyshek, _

_ Azoy zog ikh aykh on; _

_ Ver s'vet gikher fun aykh kenen ivre - _

_ Der bakumt a fon. _

_ Lernt, kinder, hot nit moyre, _

_ Yeder onheyb iz shver; _

_ Gliklekh der vos hot gelernt toyre, _

_ Tsi darf der mentsh nokh mer? _

_ Ir vet, kinder, elter vern, _

_ Vet ir aleyn farshteyn, _

_ Vifl in di oysyes lign trern, _

_ Un vi fil geveyn. _

_ Az ir vet, kinder, dem goles shlepn, _

_ Oysgemutshet zayn, _

_ Zolt ir fun di oysyes koyekh shepn, _

_ Kukt in zey arayn! _

Magneto....sounded sad? His voice started out tentative, but it became stronger as Eel relaxed into the voice and the soothing magnetic fields.

Not being fluent in Yiddish made...it difficult to translate, but the rough gist that Eel understood was about a rabbi teaching children the alphabet. Next to a roaring warm fire.

The last stanza was changed from what Eel was familiar with.

Mutant children bearing the exile.

Exiled from one's homes, exiled from one's history, community, and family.

Eel swallowed. Being raised by mad scientists and cyborgs made it hard to relate to regular people. Ze didn't consider zirself a person in the traditional sense.

Being at Temple itself was difficult, too much anxiety, too much stimulus, too much socializing and unwanted touching.

….this was surreal. Waking up to Magneto singing to you, petting you as a beloved child, while wrapped in blankets.

It felt more like a very very bizarre fever dream born out of familial desperation for something, anything, that was comforting.

The song being about using knowledge to find comfort in Exile....yeah ze could relate to that.

As the song ended, ze started to slowly withdraw into the pile of blankets, slipping out of the elder mutant's grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oifen Pripitchik is really on Schindler's list.


	3. Angry Burrito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eel is awake and not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fucking chapter and everything related to it has been giving me problems for months. So I'm just leaving it here after a quick edit. Comment if something doesn't make sense and I'll fix it.

"I can't believe you're here." Eel muttered to zirself sat on the edge of the couch. Ze felt naked and bare, under the blankets, without the rest of zir tail and other body parts. Magneto's gaze burned into zir back.

Whatever, ze was going to stay rolled up in the blankets. Buried under the pillows. Somehow Magneto's heavy gaze penetrated zir pillow fort.

Ze sighed.

Fucking Daken.

Fucking Magneto.

Fucking Laura and fucking Dr.Kinney who still had to exist, triggering Daken to loose his shit, causing him to get quasi-adopted by Magneto, leading to Magneto realizing ze existed, which led to zir trapped on the couch by a concerned Magneto. Not fucking helping that Magneto's wife, Magda, was also raised by Logan, making the man a weird step-brother in law.

Ugh, did this make Daken...zir step-uncle?

Fuck.

This was all Daken's fault.

Why the fuck did zir idiot brother have to dump zir off on Magneto's couch...one of his couches. The man had too many fucking couches. So Ze passed out at the goth club after not sleeping for 4 days. So what? That was what the stim drugs were for. S'not like ze wanted to sleep during Dia de los Muertos, not with all the dead lab-siblings that needed to be mourned and remembered.

Ugh.

Ze had a headache.

Daken was supposed to drop zir off back at the boat in times like this.

….Not Magneto's house. Family-complex. Whatever.

And with all zir cybernetics stripped off outside of the cyberjack and spinal rig.

...so it wasn't safe or comfortable with sleep with them on after passing out of exhaustion but STILL.

That was the crux of the matter.

"Child."

"I have breakfast."

Magneto.

MAGNETO.

Leader of the free mutant world, one of the most powerful mutants to exist.

Ze was related to zir, that ze had been engineered out of the man's stolen blood.

Fucking Daken.

Daken explaining everything in a paper note with a smiley face.

What a fucking dick.

Ze leg nubs itched, zir nub socks itched. Ze rubbed zir thighs and nubs against each other like some kind of mutilated oversized cricket. Ze felt the dried sweat crusts on the sock.

This sucked.

This fucking sucked.

The roll of blankets wrapped around zir, felt hot and heavy, ze sweated beneath the layers of body paint and glued on silicon scales.

After reading the note that Daken had left and seeing Magneto, ze had merged with the blankets and pillows, like hell ze was going to look at zir genetic source.

Ze couldn't fight him,couldn't out-talk him into letting zir go, and with zir cyborg body parts needing to be charged....leaving via stealth would be difficult.

Nearly impossible while equipped with only fleshy meat nubs and Magneto's electro-magnetic senses. Too hungry to wrap light around zirself like blankets for invisibility.

"Child." Magneto's voice, became edged with impatience.

Eel squeaked before ze could bit zir tongue.

Great job, Eel. The almighty Magneto is definitely going to respect you now.

Ze heard sighing and a meaty thump on the chair beyond the coffee table.

"Little one, there is salmon and lox on the coffee table. Child. Please. Emerge. I wish to see you. I am not going to harm you. ….I ...I need to see that you are okay."

Ze was going to kill Daken.

Painfully. Slowly.

Start out with psychological torture by denying zir lab brother his regular tattoo sessions. Yes, yes, great idea.

Ze shifted and stuck out an arm out of the pillow fort. Just an arm. The room must've been faraday-caged, because could only pick up on the magnetic fields in the room, though Magneto's field overpowered all other electro-magnetic stimulus.

Ze shuddered.

"Child....what-."

Magneto paused, Eel could feel his gaze burning into zir arm. His eyes tracing the garish mish-mash of brown skin, body paint, scar tissue, and the dull glow in the dark silicon scales.

"...are you doing?"

Zir hand felt around for the plate of bagels with salmon. Textures of slippery cheese, firm bread and slick fishmeat squooshed into zir hand.

Another arm wormed its way out of zir pillow fort and the plate disappeared into pile of bedding....only the plate.

Eel heard the thump of bagels hitting the floor.

"....fuck."

Eel heard the slap of hand meeting face and a groan.

Well this was fun. It's not like ze could eat the plate. Ze growled and threw the plate to the floor, it clattered, it made a dink sound when it thumped at Magneto's boots.

Zir hands clawed at the floor, reaching for the bagels.

Magneto's home wasn't Transigen and there was no other littermates to swipe the nourishment, but old habits died hard.

Ze ignored the rustling of pant fabric, the crinkle of the couch as Magneto got up and the thuds of his boots as he walked over. Ze bit zir tongue, trying to get the floor bagels before some asshole took it away like back in the labs.

Eel was half hanging out of the blanket pile at this point, ze was about to slide on the floor and land face first into the pile of salmon, dirty bread and cream cheese smeared metal. Zir eyes stayed shut however, in denial of the reality of being out of the pillow fort's protection.

This was fine. The last thing ze needed was to see zir genetic relative and freak out

Right when ze located a dirty bagel, Eel's other hand felt the smooth leather of a boot. Ze patted it for good measure.

...not edible, despite boots being chewy.

"Enough. I've seen enough of this and this isn't acceptable."

Magneto's tone was sharp and slice through zir denial. Eel opened up zir paintstreaked eyes and looked up. It was the Emperor for sure. Magneto's metallic blue eyes looked down on zir.

Fuuuuck.

Eel yelped and backed up on the couch, weight pressed down with zir hands and leg nubs flailed benath the blankets

With a sweep of a hand, Magneto had his magnetic fields tore through the room, sweeping up Eel and zir blanket pile, into the otherside of the sofa, while Magneto plopped his rear end on the sofa's other-end. The bagels and plate clattered into a neat pile. Cream cheese and salmon streaked the once shining floor.

Eel just stared at the ruined breakfast. Magneto's heavy breathing while he leaned back on the pillows was a nightmare.

Out of the corner of zir eye, it looked like his eyes were scrunched together while he pinched his nose.

Well, Mags didn't try to hit or yell at zir....sooooo, ze was most likely safe from punishment. Maybe? If ze had the rest of zir cybernetics installed, zir moodlights would be an ugly mustard yellow.

Cautious and anxious, but not about to melt down.

"...bagels aren't magnetic...". Ze clammed zir mouth. Great job, Eel, now you got Mags' attention. Again.

Ze felt his side-eye burning into zir. Eel wrapped the blankets around zir, wishing ze had enough food in zir stomach to turn invisible.

"Everything has a magnetic field. With enough power, anything can be lifted and manipulated. Of course, Transigen neglected that in their...." Magneto paused and looked away, his voice heavy and bitter.

Eel could hear the elder mutant gritting his teeth and exhaling through his teeth. He looked back at Eel and ze avoided his gaze.

"...treatment of you."

Eel's sharp nails dug into zir palms. Great, fucking Daken. Of course, the fucking Emperor knew about Transigen. Ze vowed to hide all of Daken's hentai and to wipe his laptop. To cancel the birthday strippers that ze had pre-paid for months ago with Logan's stolen credit card.

Zir stomach grumbled.

Fucking stomach turned traitor.

"I see you take after your genetic mother." Eel sunk deeper into the blankets and started to nudge a pillow in front of zir. Ze could feel the other mutant's gaze rake into zir black hair streaked with various neon colors. And taking in zir golden brown skin.

"Doesn't explain the paint or the scales however, both look of synthetic make and coloring."

Eel melted into the blankets even more. The pillow got nudged off via another magnetic sweep.

Yup, ze was going to kill Daken. Daken was going to find his ....ugh gross, adult toys thrown out.

"Stop hiding, you should be proud of your lineage." Magneto sighed and shook his head.

"And stop trying to eat food from the floor. Not dignified, not acceptable and I'll go make you some more food. "

The elder mutant stood up, his gaze still on Eel, eyes flicking over zir built arms, strong shoulders and firm neck. " Hmmph. At least you look like you've been fed these past few years."

Eel bared zir teeth, split tongue running over zir sharpened teeth. Without zir tail, moodlights, and cyberfins to flare out and emote, ze was starting to go from anxiety into wanting to run.

"Don't need anyone to feed me." Ze spat.

Mags raised an eyebrow and stared flatly at Eel, looking not amused.

"Without your prosthesis, you need aid to get around. And they are charging, child. Do not antagonize me."

So Magneto was lecturing zir. Great, just fucking great. Zir nails dug into zir palm deeper. Eel closed zir eyes, exhale and turned over, face buried into the couch's leather hide. No point in responding to Mags.

Ze was going to ignore him. Time to take stock of the situation.

First. Ze was hun-

Magneto cut into zir thinking. Damn it.

"Really, little one?"

Magnetic fields twisted around zir and Eel found zirself flipped over, laying on zir side and facing Magneto's disapproving glare.

"I WAS THINKING."

Eel snapped, angry shocks of electricity roiling down zir arms, crackling down the couch, and into the floor.

Nails digging into the couch, ze huffed.

Of - fucking course, no adaptive collar on either. Ze would've noticed if Magneto hadn't fucking cut into zir train of though. Ze hoped Daken had put it away, before Mags saw it, otherwise ze was fucked.

  
Ugh.

Another bolt of electricity crackled down zir thighs. Eel raised zirself on the zir palms, striked the couch with zir leg stumps, grounding the electricity onto the floor.

The blankets slid down as ze did this, revealing zir leg stumps and the crusty nub socks.

Fucking GREAT. Daken's clothes were all going to be thrown overboard. See how, he feels about being nude to the world.

Eel flopped back onto the couch, pulling the blanket back over zir. The creamcheese on zir hands had streaked the couch and blanket.

Magneto stayed silent through the whole thing. Weird. Usually the man monologued forever.

"....who did this to you?" His voice cut through the silence like the voice of an angry deity. His tone was quiet, with barely controlled fury. His own eyes were starting to glow. Just like how Eel did when ze lost zir shit and let the killing programming take over.

The elder mutant's own magnetic field started to feel heavy, like the air before a thunderstorm.

"Lab accident." Eel spat.

Relief mixed with annoyance twisted in zir stomach. So Magneto wouldn't punish zir for loss of control and emotional outbursts.

Ze could work with this. At least ze was safe in this respect, Magneto turned his wrath to those who hurt zir, not towards the symptoms of the pain.  
"Daken told me you were an amputee, but its one thing seeing it, compared to hearing about it." Mags said in a low tone, concern mixed with rage.

Eel sighed. Time to see where Mags put the line at disrespect.

"Calm your tits, I'm used to it. Just need the rest of my body parts on."

Magneto inhaled and exhaled, while the legs on the coffee table curled and split and spiraled, the metal screeching as it bent into unnatural shapes.

"We'll get to that, after I get you cleaned up and fed."

Okay.

Nice to know that the man also did shows of power when upset. Eel bit zir tongue and shook zir head to clear away a memory.

"What."

Fuck.

"Nothing."

"Child. Don't lie to me."

  
Sooo Magneto tolerated random electrical bolts and being told to calm his tits, but didn't like emotional boundaries/lies. Ugh.

Relatives. Daken was going to find himself thrown overboard while asleep.

Zir fingers hooked onto nubsocks and ze peeled them off. Ze dropped the crusty mess onto the floor.

Eel looked past Magneto, voice flat and apathetic, eyes glassy. It was always easier to talk about the lab while disassociated.

"Unauthorized displays of powers and loss of control led to corrective treatment."


End file.
